Pence Ignores Mask Requirement While Visiting Mayo Clinic In Minnesota

Vice President Mike Pence looks on during the daily briefing on COVID-19 in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on April 6, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the White House coronavirus task force, showed up at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota on Tuesday without wearing a protective mask, violating the clinic’s policy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Politico reporter Dan Diamond posted a video of a mask-free Pence visiting a patient:

Shortly afterward, the clinic tweeted that it had told Pence about its mask requirement in advance.

“Mayo Clinic had informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today,” the account wrote, then deleted the post.

Pence press office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The vice president immediately came under fire for flouting the policy.

President Donald Trump said in early April that he would defy recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to wear a mask while out in public.

“I just don’t want to wear one myself,” Trump said. “It’s a recommendation.”

“Somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, dictators, kings, queens…I don’t know, I don’t see it for myself,” he continued.

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